Since there have been a few requests to open shops at Bloonerton Market recently I thought I might as well provide a brief guide as to what's involved in opening a shop etc.
 
Getting started
 
First thing you need to do is decide what it is you'd like to sell to the Blooner masses.  Ideally, it should be something already not on offer at Bloonerton or BL Boulevade but I suppose there's no actual reason not to sell the same as an existing vendor.
 
Having decided what you want to sell you'll then need to search the web for suitable graphics of the items.  The criteria for the graphics are as follows:
 
1. should be an actual photo of the item and not a drawing
2. should ideally have a plain white background
3. items of clothing should not include a person wearing them
4. there should be no other items in the graphic
5. the whole item should be included in the graphic
6. it should be on sale with an existing price (in any currency but easier if it's UK pounds or US dollars)
 
Existing Bloonerton Market shopkeepers will probably confirm that the best thing to do is try and find a shop or shops on the web that has pictures of the items it's selling that fulfill the above criteria.  Having found some suitable items it's probably worth sending me the URL/s so I can go check the graphics and confirm that they will be OK to use.
 
Having found suitable graphics for the items in your shop you then need to send me the appropriate URLs to where I can find them and I will then grab the graphics, doing any resizing etc that is necessary and load the items into the BL Warehouse, usually at the BL dollar equivalent price they were being sold for, less around 30%.  I normally load 2 of each item to start with.
 
 
Stocking your shop
 
The BL Warehouse becomes visible once you have initially created your shop which you do by visiting your Assets screen and clicking the icon at the bottom left of the screen marked "Shop".  You then need to enter a name and tagline for your shop.  Note you can change both of these at any time later on.
 
The BL Warehouse only shows items which are intended for your shop or items which aren't intended for any particular shop owner. Once inside, you will see any items which are available for putting in your shop.  To acquire an item click on it and enter the price that you'd like to sell the item for in the box to the right of where it says "My Shop>>".  This will buy the item for you and also automatically transfer it to your shop for sale at the price you indicated.  Don't forget to make sure you have sufficient funds in your wallet prior to acquiring the items.
 
In addition to stocking your shop from the BL Warehouse you can also transfer items from your Assets into you shop by clicking on the item, entering the price below the "My Shop >>" button and then clicking the button to transfer the item.
 
If you sell out of a particular item and would like to restock it you just need to send me a PM indicating clearly which items you'd like further stock of.
 
 
Managing your stock
 
You have a number of options available to you for items in your shop.  By clikcing on a particular item you can choose to do one of the folowing:
 
1. Transfer the item back to the Warehouse and get the money you paid for it back.  [Warehouse >>]
2. Change the price you wish to sell the item at.  [Reprice >>]
3. Transfer the item from your shop to your assets  [Assets >>]
 
 
Advertising your shop and its contents
 
Once you have a suitably stocked shop you will need to bring it to the attention of the Blooner consumers which you can do by making posts on the Lunatics forum.  Should you wish to show pictures of any of your actual stock in your post you can do this as follows:
 
Firefox users:  right mouse click on the item and slect "Copy image location".  This can then be pasted into your post and surrounded by image tags, i.e.
Code:

 [img]pasted URL of item[/img] 

 
IE users:  right mouse click the item, select properties, then copy the URL from the info that appears and follow the same procedure as for Firefox.
 
Other browser users:  you should be able to do something similar to the above.
 
 
Having a Sale
 
Should you wish to have a sale at any time all you need to do is click the Shop icon in your Assets and select a discount from the dropdown menu of between 10% and 50%.  To end your sale click this button once again and select the blank option. Alternatively, you can click the "Setup" button from the menu found near the top of your shop's display screen.
 
 
Selling items
 
Whenever you sell an item froim your shop you should get a popup message letting you know.  You can also review all the sales you have made and any profit you have made by clicking the "Sales" button within your shop screen.
 
 
For other general advice feel free to approach one of the existing Bloonerton market shopkeepers.